After enduring violent hazing by their teammates, a member of a local high school sports team reported the hazing to coaching staff. In response, coaching staff downplayed the hazing as rough play, discouraged the victim from further reporting, assaulted the victim’s character, and blamed the victim for the attacks they suffered. School administrators failed to communicate with the victim’s mother adequately and neglected to report the abuse to Childline and law enforcement.
 
Under Pennsylvania law, individuals who work with children are required to immediately report suspected child abuse perpetrated by adults and certain juveniles. Unfortunately, Pennsylvania’s child welfare laws do not classify the hazing this victim endured as child abuse. This legal shortcoming creates a situation in which schools are not held accountable for covering up this kind of abuse. To prevent further miscarriage of justice, I will be introducing legislation that classifies hazing as a reportable form of child abuse. As the grand jury investigating this incident states in its report, this legislative fix would ensure that “future children will be encouraged to disclose the truth and be protected from institutional prejudices while doing so.”
 
By classifying hazing as a reportable offense under Pennsylvania’s mandatory reporting laws, this bill would acknowledge the degree of harm that hazing causes and ensure adequate accountability and remedies. Please consider signing on to this proposal so that the children of Pennsylvania can trust that the institutions charged with protecting them will do so.